Translation between telephone device and network client

• US 9,065,814 B2
• Filed: 01/31/2012
• Issued: 06/23/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Sheth, Sachin, Deshpande, Vinit, Rang, Timothy J., Gimenez, Alexandre M., An, Yu, Kalele, Ajit
• Primary Examiner(s): Elliott, IV, Benjamin H
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wang, Yaotang
• Application Number:
  US13/361,960
• Publication Number:
  US 20130195118A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,239 Days
• Field of Search: 370/351, 370/352, 370/466, 709/222
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/08 Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/18 Multiprotocol handlers, e.g. single devices capable of handling multiple protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/16 Communication-related supplementary services, e.g. call-transfer or call-hold

Abstract

Call control messages and audio signals between a telephone device and a computer network telephone client on a computing device can be intercepted. For control messages from the computer network telephone client, the control messages can be translated from a first control protocol to a second control protocol and forwarded to the telephone device. For control messages from the telephone device, the control messages can be translated from the second control protocol to the first control protocol and forwarded to the computer network telephone client. For audio signals from the computer network telephone client, the audio signals can be translated from a first audio protocol to a second audio protocol and forwarded to the telephone device. For audio signals from the telephone device, the audio signals can be translated from the second audio protocol to the first audio protocol and forwarded to the computer network telephone client.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

intercepting, via a computer system, telephone call control messages and audio signals between a first telephone device and a computer network telephone client on a computing device, the telephone call control messages and the audio signals being for a first telephone call being made through a communications server, the computer network telephone client being configured to use a first control protocol to exchange control messages and a first audio protocol to exchange audio signals;

determining, via the computer system, that the first telephone device uses a second control protocol to exchange control messages and a second audio protocol to exchange audio signals;

for one or more of the control messages that are from the computer network telephone client, translating, via a first translation component of the computer system, from the first control protocol to the second control protocol and forwarding to the first telephone device, the one or more of the control messages that are translated from the first control protocol to the second control protocol being communicated from the computer network telephone client to the first telephone device in a route that does not include the communications server;

for one or more of the control messages that are from the first telephone device, translating, via the first translation component of the computer system, from the second control protocol to the first control protocol and forwarding to the computer network telephone client, the one or more of the control messages that are translated from the second control protocol to the first control protocol being communicated from the first telephone device to the computer network telephone client in a route that does not include the communications server;

for one or more of the audio signals that are from the computer network telephone client to the first telephone device, translating, via the first translation component of the computer system, from the first audio protocol to the second audio protocol and forwarding to the first telephone device, the one or more of the audio signals that are translated from the first audio protocol to the second audio protocol being communicated from the computer network telephone client to the first telephone device in a route that does not include the communications server;

for one or more of the audio signals that are from the first telephone device, translating, via the first translation component of the computer system, from the second audio protocol to the first audio protocol and forwarding to the computer network telephone client, the one or more of the audio signals that are translated from the second audio protocol to the first audio protocol being communicated from the first telephone device to the computer network telephone client in a route that does not include the communications server; and

extending the computer system to add a second translation component prior to translating via the second translation component, the extending being performed utilizing existing extensibility hooks that were in the computer system prior to the extending, the extending comprising revising computer-executable instructions in the computer system to support association and synchronization of the telephone network client with telephone devices using one or more different additional protocols that had not previously been supported by the computer-executable instructions, the extending being performed without revising the telephone network client, wherein after the extending, the computer-executable instructions support association and synchronization of the telephone network client with telephone devices using the one or more different additional protocols in addition to one or more different existing protocols, which had been previously supported by the computer-executable instructions prior to the extending and are still supported by the computer-executable instructions after the extending.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises the computer network telephone client making a call through the communications server independent of the first telephone device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the method further comprises the first telephone device making a call through the communications server independent of the computer network telephone client.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein intercepting control messages comprises, for control messages from the computer network telephone client, intercepting the control messages at a fake control device, and wherein forwarding control messages from the first telephone device to the computer network telephone client comprises forwarding from the fake control device to the computer network telephone client.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein intercepting audio signals comprises, for audio signals from the computer network client, intercepting the audio signals at a fake audio device, and wherein forwarding audio signals from the first telephone device to the computer network telephone client comprises forwarding from the fake audio device to the computer network telephone client.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first control protocol and the first audio protocol are wired connection protocols.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first control protocol and the first audio protocol comprise one or more universal serial bus protocols.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the wired connection protocols are a first set of one or more wired connection protocols, and wherein the second control protocol and the second audio protocol are wired connection protocols that are different from the first set of one or more wired connection protocols.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the second control protocol and the second audio protocol are both part of one or more wireless connection protocols.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, via the computer system, that a second telephone device uses a third control protocol to exchange control messages and a third audio protocol to exchange audio signals, the third control protocol being different from the second control protocol and the third audio protocol being different from the second audio protocol;

intercepting, via the computer system, control messages and audio signals between the computer network telephone client and the second telephone device for a second telephone call;

for one or more of the control messages that are from the computer network telephone client to the second telephone device, translating, via a second translation component of the computer system, from the first control protocol to the third control protocol and forwarding to the second telephone device, the one or more of the audio signals that are translated from the first control protocol to the third control protocol being communicated from the computer network telephone client to the second telephone device;

for one or more of the control messages that are from the second telephone device, translating, via the second translation component of the computer system, from the third control protocol to the first control protocol and forwarding to the computer network telephone client, the one or more of the control messages that are translated from the third control protocol to the first control protocol being communicated from the second telephone device to the computer network telephone client;

for one or more of the audio signals that are from the computer network telephone client to the second telephone device, translating, via the second translation component of the computer system, from the first audio protocol to the third audio protocol and forwarding to the second telephone device, the one or more of the audio signals that are translated from the first audio protocol to the third audio protocol being communicated from the computer network telephone client to the second telephone device; and

for one or more of the audio signals that are from the second telephone device, translating, via the second translation component of the computer system, from the third audio protocol to the first audio protocol and forwarding to the computer network telephone client, the one or more of the audio signals that are translated from the third audio protocol to the first audio protocol being communicated from the second telephone device to the computer network telephone client.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the method further comprises:

determining, via the computer system, that a third telephone device uses the first control protocol to exchange control messages and the first audio protocol to exchange audio signals;

passing, via the computer system, call control messages between the computer network telephone client and a third telephone device for a third telephone call, the call control messages passed between the computer network telephone client and the third telephone device being formatted according to the first control protocol at the computer network telephone client and at the third telephone device; and

passing, via the computer system, audio signals between the computer network telephone client and the third telephone device for the third telephone call, the audio signals passed between the computer network telephone client and the third telephone device being formatted according to the first control protocol at the computer network telephone client and at the third telephone device.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein:

one or more of the audio signals that are translated from the first control protocol to the third control protocol are communicated from the computer network telephone client to the second telephone device in a route that does not include the communications server;

one or more of the control messages that are translated from the third control protocol to the first control protocol are communicated from the second telephone device to the computer network telephone client in a route that does not include the communications server;

one or more of the audio signals that are translated from the first audio protocol to the third audio protocol are communicated from the computer network telephone client to the second telephone device in a route that does not include the communications server; and

one or more of the audio signals that are translated from the third audio protocol to the first audio protocol are communicated from the second telephone device to the computer network telephone client in a route that does not include the communications server.

13. A computer system comprising at least one processor and memory comprising computer-executable instructions stored thereon that when executed by at least one processor cause the at least one processor to perform acts comprising:

intercepting, via a computer system, telephone call control messages between a first telephone device and a computer network telephone client on a computing device, the telephone call control messages being for a first telephone call being made through a communications server, the computer network telephone client being configured to exchange control messages according to a first control protocol;

determining, via the computer system, that the first telephone device is configured to exchange control messages according to a second control protocol;

for one or more of the control messages that are from the computer network telephone client, translating, via a first translation component of the computer system, from the first control protocol to the second control protocol and forwarding to the first telephone device, the one or more of the control messages that are translated from the first control protocol to the second control protocol being one or more messages communicated from the computer network telephone client to the first telephone device in a route that does not include the communications server;

for one or more of the control messages that are from the first telephone device, translating, via the first translation component, from the second control protocol to the first control protocol and forwarding to the computer network telephone client, the one or more of the control messages that are translated from the second control protocol to the first control protocol being communicated from the first telephone device to the computer network telephone client in a route that does not include the communications server;

intercepting, via the computer system, control messages and audio signals between the computer network telephone client and a second telephone device for a second telephone call;

determining, via the computer system, that the second telephone device is configured to exchange control messages according to a third control protocol;

for one or more of the control messages that are from the computer network telephone client, translating, via a second translation component of the computer system, from the first control protocol to the third control protocol and forwarding to the second telephone device, the one or more of the control messages that are translated from the first control protocol to the third control protocol being one or more messages communicated from the computer network telephone client to the second telephone device in a route that does not include the communications server;

for one or more of the control messages that are from the second telephone device, translating, via the second translation component, from the third control protocol to the first control protocol and forwarding to the computer network telephone client, the one or more of the control messages that are translated from the third control protocol to the first control protocol being communicated from the second telephone device to the computer network telephone client in a route that does not include the communications server; and

extending the computer-executable instructions to add the second translation component prior to translating via the second translation component, the extending being performed utilizing existing extensibility hooks that were in the computer-executable instructions prior to the extending, the extending comprising revising the computer-executable instructions to support association and synchronization of the telephone network client with telephone devices using one or more different additional protocols that had not previously been supported by the computer-executable instructions, the extending being performed without revising the telephone network client, wherein after the extending, the computer-executable instructions support association and synchronization of the telephone network client with telephone devices using the one or more different additional protocols in addition to one or more different existing protocols, which had been previously supported by the computer-executable instructions prior to the extending and are still supported by the computer-executable instructions after the extending.

14. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the computer system comprises the computer network telephone client and the first telephone device and wherein the acts further comprise:

making a third telephone call through the communications server with the computer network telephone client independent of the first telephone device; and

making a fourth telephone call through the communications server with the first telephone device independent of the computer network telephone client.

15. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the control messages comprise human interface device reports.

16. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the first control protocol is a wired connection protocol.

17. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the first control protocol is a universal serial bus protocol.

18. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the first control protocol is a first wired connection protocol and the second control protocol is a second wired connection protocol that is different from the first wired connection protocol.

19. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the first control protocol is a wired connection protocol and the second control protocol is a wireless connection protocol.

20. One or more computer-readable storage media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform acts comprising:

intercepting, via a computer system, telephone call control messages between a first telephone device and a computer network telephone client on a computing device, the telephone call control messages being for a first telephone call being made through a communications server, the computer network telephone client being configured to exchange control messages according to a first control protocol;

determining, via the computer system, that the first telephone device is configured to exchange control messages according to a second control protocol;

for one or more of the control messages that are from the computer network telephone client, translating, via a first translation component of the computer system, from the first control protocol to the second control protocol and forwarding to the first telephone device, the one or more of the control messages that are translated from the first control protocol to the second control protocol being one or more messages communicated from the computer network telephone client to the first telephone device in a route that does not include the communications server;

for one or more of the control messages that are from the first telephone device, translating, via the first translation component, from the second control protocol to the first control protocol and forwarding to the computer network telephone client, the one or more of the control messages that are translated from the second control protocol to the first control protocol being one or more messages communicated from the first telephone device to the computer network telephone client in a route that does not include the communications server;

intercepting, via the computer system, control messages and audio signals between the computer network telephone client and a second telephone device for a second telephone call;

determining, via the computer system, that the second telephone device is configured to exchange control messages according to a third control protocol, the third control protocol being different from the second control protocol;

for one or more of the control messages that are from the computer network telephone client to the second telephone device, translating, via a second translation component of the computer system, from the first control protocol to the third control protocol and forwarding to the second telephone device, the one or more control messages that are translated from the first control protocol to the third control protocol being one or more messages communicated from the computer network telephone client to the second telephone device in a route that does not include the communications server;

for one or more of the control messages that are from the second telephone device, translating, via the second translation component, from the third control protocol to the first control protocol and forwarding to the computer network telephone client, the one or more control messages that are translated from the third control protocol to the first control protocol being one or more messages communicated from the second telephone device to the computer network telephone client in a route that does not include the communications server; and

extending the computer-executable instructions to add the second translation component prior to translating via the second translation component, the extending being performed utilizing existing extensibility hooks that were in the computer-executable instructions prior to the extending, the extending comprising revising the computer-executable instructions to support association and synchronization of the telephone network client with telephone devices using one or more different additional protocols that had not previously been supported by the computer-executable instructions, the extending being performed without revising the telephone network client, wherein after the extending, the computer-executable instructions support association and synchronization of the telephone network client with telephone devices using the one or more different additional protocols in addition to one or more different existing protocols, which had been previously supported by the computer-executable instructions prior to the extending and are still supported by the computer-executable instructions after the extending.